When he started making videos, Pat Walls, the Founder of Starter Story, made the mistake of running with any idea that came to him. He ended up wasting hours making videos based on ideas that he’d later scrap.
Thankfully, Pat learned quickly that well-planned-out ideas ultimately save him time and lead to better content.
For this piece, we asked pro video creators to walk you through their biggest mistakes. Among them, chasing virality, talking too much or too fast, trying to be perfect, and spending a lot on gear before you’re even comfortable in front of the camera.
Hear from the likes of Jay Clouse, Jay Acunzo, and Jayde I. Powell as they offer suggestions on how to avoid making the mistakes they made.
Mistake #1: Not vetting your ideas
Recording videos without dedicating enough time and thought to developing them ultimately slows you down and wastes money.
When Starter Story’s Pat Walls began creating videos, he made this very mistake. “So often I would just come up with an idea and then spend the next 10, 20, 30 hours bringing that idea to fruition and creating it — the edit, filming, post-production, and all that.”
“I’d have saved a lot of time and moved faster if I had just dedicated a little bit more time to thinking about the best idea for my time,” admits Pat.
Because, in reality, well-thought-out ideas frame how you’ll present the video through your title and thumbnail, as well as keep budgets efficient and under control.
What to do instead: Brainstorm and evaluate ideas pre-production
Spend time coming up with ideas. Then commit to fleshing out the shortlisted ideas so each shot in the video brings your idea to life.
Start with “putting together a list of 20 ideas in a spreadsheet and rating them from 1 to 10. Then, sort them from the highest to the lowest in terms of their scores, and only pick the ones that are at the top and throw everything else away,” suggests Pat.
One thing to be mindful of here: instead of rating ideas based on which ones you think are good, validate them based on:
- How relevant they are to your ideal viewers
- How well they align with your expertise or the product you’re marketing
The best ideas are ones that are a blend of these two.
Ultimately, putting time into developing ideas will make it easy for you to make videos that hook viewers. You also wouldn’t need to scrap ideas after you’ve recorded them.
Bonus tip: Identify who you’re making videos for
Since any video idea’s success is largely dependent on how relevant it is to your target viewers, ask yourself: what content will my viewers engage with?
Instead of making assumptions, research what questions your ideal viewers have related to your area of expertise.
Start off with understanding exactly:
- Who you want to make videos for
- What topics they search for/watch
- Which channel(s) they watch videos on
Essentially, your ideal viewers are the people you want to sell your product to. Enter words describing them in an audience research tool like SparkToro to find out their:
- Demographics (age and gender)
- Who they follow on social media
- What they talk about
Next, review the people these folks follow on video-led channels like TikTok and Instagram to see what content they’re publishing. The idea isn’t to copy their strategy but to find out the style and substance of the videos your ideal viewers are watching and engaging with.
Mistake #2: Thinking a viral video will drive business results
No matter how good your idea is, there’s no guarantee your video will go viral. There’s also no saying what results a viral video could drive for you besides an uptick in your follower count. Yet, Dan Bennett of Video for Entrepreneurs shares that most beginner video creators chase virality.
“Oftentimes when I work with people, especially in the very beginning, they’re looking at video as this thing that’s really expensive, that they’ve got to pay a lot for, and this video is going to go out and do all the heavy lifting for them,” says Dan. “It’s hopefully going to go viral. It’s going to change the trajectory of their business. And although that happens in one in every probably 10,000 videos, it’s not something to be counted on.”
What to do instead: Be consistent
Instead of thinking one viral video is all you need to win at video marketing, consistently publish videos that educate, entertain, and eventually drive sales. Dan recommends, “putting together a body of work — making multiple videos on the same topic, covering different aspects, and leading someone on a journey [with you].”
A video engine like this keeps you on top of your target viewers’ minds, letting you earn their trust, which is essential for driving business results. A viral video doesn’t offer this though, because folks see it once and soon enough, forget all about it.
Mistake #3: Investing in gear before nailing camera presence
“We want to look the part and so we buy the fancy light, we buy the expensive microphone, we buy a nice camera, or we pay for or spend time on the editing to make it flashy, [add] gripping animation and colorful subtitles and emojis and B-roll and all these things,” says Jay Acunzo, Co-Founder of Creator Kitchen and host of the Unthinkable podcast.
The problem with this? Fancy gear can’t help you deliver your core idea well until you master camera presence. Think: the way you present yourself on video, the energy you bring, and the way you deliver a story.
“Because [ultimately, effective video marketing is about] being good on a microphone and on camera, and if you can’t do that, then none of the rest of the stuff is worth your time until you master the ability to sit in the chair or stand in front of the camera and deliver,” Jay points out.
What to do instead: Master camera presence
“Put yourself on a deadline and do enough video content that you get good [in front of the camera] before you spend any time or any resources, any budget (team or yours), trying to get better at the incremental stuff,” advises Jay. Review the videos you record to understand:
- Where to look at the camera
- Which non-verbal cues are engaging
- And, how to pace your speech for maximum impact
Then go back and implement the changes in the new content you record.
Mistake #4: Talking too much
When you talk too much, you unintentionally share a lot of information — confusing viewers and losing them altogether.
Founder of The Em Dash Co and host of Creator Tea Talk, Jayde I. Powell, struggled with the same. She shares, “Oftentimes what happens is that as a marketer, I want to get the message or the story across so badly that I forget who I’m talking to and what type of content they consume or why they consume it.”
With time though, Jayde has realized, “A lot of my work as a content creator and content marketer requires me to take a lot of information and turn it into new content, but also make it more digestible.”
What to do instead: Plan your content, but don’t over-plan it
“[I] recommend getting straight to the point,” says Jayde. “There’s a lot of noise on the feed and sometimes having really good content or a really great story just isn’t enough.”
Go back to revise who your ideal viewer is. Then invest time in writing a video script. If scripting feels overwhelming or you’re pressed for time, pull up Vimeo’s AI script generator. Enter a prompt explaining what you’re looking for, and select the video duration and the tone you’re aiming for. Hit generate and you’re done 🎉
With your script ready, review it to:
- Refine your opening lines
- Cut out sentences that don’t add to the overall video idea
- Add or remove information based on your viewers’ understanding of the subject
This makes sure the information you share is easy to digest and relevant to your viewers.
Mistake #5: Talking too fast
Besides being mindful of how much you’re talking, pay attention to the way you pace your delivery. If you talk too fast, you make it difficult for viewers to follow along. But if you go slow, you risk losing viewers to boredom. Either way, thoughtless pacing dilutes your video idea’s impact since it doesn’t give viewers enough time to absorb what you’re saying.
Public speaking coach, Nausheen I. Chen shares she used to speak too fast. “Maybe it was the nerves, the adrenaline, the stress of making super short videos for socials, but it just seemed like I was always on 1.5x speed the entire time."
“In fact, I planned for everything except my speaking skills. I planned for the content, the lighting, the background, the location,” Nausheen recalls. “But the truth is that you can have the best cameras, the best lights, and even the best content, but if you don’t know how to show up on camera with the right energy, if you don’t know how to vary your pace and take those pauses, your message will get lost.”
What to do instead: Review your pace and script your pauses
“I recommend that when you do your first few videos, watch them back and observe how fast you’re speaking, what your pace is like, and [ask yourself] if you weren’t you, would you watch that video?” Nausheen says.
Based on the notes you create, mark how fast or slow you need to speak in your next video. Make sure you also script when you’ll take brief pauses to encourage viewers to sit with your message.
Worried you’ll forget how you’ll vary your speech? Add your script to Vimeo’s online teleprompter (available for both mobile and desktop videos) and see the words rolling on your screen as you record the video. The best part? Easily adjust the text’s font size and scroll speed for a comfortable recording experience.
Mistake #6: Striving for perfection
“When I was getting started with video, the mistake that I made all the time was trying to achieve the perfect video and thinking that I could,” admits Jay Clouse, Founder of Creator Science.
Aiming for perfection is both unrealistic and stressful because you second guess everything you do. Most of all, it prevents you from being your unique self on camera.
“Because when you start striving for perfect, it begs the question: ‘what is perfect?’ “And what you probably end up doing is comparing your work to someone else’s work who has been doing this for much longer than you have. And so, you try to make this derivative, memetic version of what this other person did. “[But] you’re never going to be able to do it as well.” Why? “Because they probably have more experience and also because they’re making ‘their’ videos.”
What to do instead: Find your style
This is easier said than done. But Jay recommends being a little loose on camera to bring out your style. “[This way,] you aren’t going to feel as rigid. And you’re not going to be trying to mimic someone else’s style.”
It all starts with internalizing the idea that you don’t need to copy anyone. Instead, “Make the video that you want to make, the way you would make it,” Jay points out. Also, remember that finding your style takes time. So Jay Acunzo’s advice about making as many videos as you can to nail camera presence comes in handy here as well.
Make high-converting videos today
In a nutshell, take the time to plan your video ideas. Work on your storytelling, speaking, and camera presentation skills. Don’t forget to plan your content with a script pointing out:
- What you’ll talk about
- How you’ll cover it
- When you’ll take brief pauses
- How you’ll vary your pace
And if scripting gets time-consuming, use Vimeo’s AI script generator. Here’s to making videos that get your viewers to watch till the very end 🥂
